“Hunting foxes!” scoffed someone else. “Aren’t we all?” A few of the men laughed, easy and confident, teeth flashing. My shoulders tensed.

“Ignore them.” Bear’s voice was low. “Just keep close to Prince Bertilak and me, and you’ll be fine.” I nodded, avoiding his eyes as he helped me into Cotton’s saddle, then settled himself onto his own mount, Ursa Major.

I tried not to let my heart rise at the protectiveness in his tone.

The Duke of Cornwall gave me another long-toothed leer before lifting a hunting horn to his lips. At its boisterous call, we rode forward beneath the thick canopy of green, the field cheerful and noisy, the hounds and terriers trundling along with their noses to the ground and tails bobbing.

Suddenly, a hound at the front of the pack tipped his dirt-brown muzzle toward the sky and bayed, tail twitching like tall grass in a stiff wind. I jerked at his cry, plaintive and desperate, and Bertilak and Bear exchanged a sharp, oddly familiar glance.

“He speaks!” someone shouted, and the hounds took off. The horses broke into a gallop after them, hooves hammering the earth like thunder rumbling up from underground, sleek torsos straining forward. My heart climbed into my throat as Cotton picked up speed.

Mud flew and thorns caught at my clothes as we clambered through thickets and tore over soggy paths after the dogs. I gripped the reins, white-knuckled, and leaned into Cotton’s sprint; but the horse and I were strangers. I didn’t know her well enough to keep up. One by one, the riders passed me by.

My heart sank as they vanished through the trees, leaving me alone in the gathering dusk.

“Your Grace?”

I twisted at his voice. Bear sat easily on his horse’s back, hands braced on his thighs, as fluid and relaxed as if he’d been poured into Ursa Major’s saddle.

“You’re still here.” I furrowed my brow, surprised.

“I’m supposed to stay with you. This was bound to happen.” Bear tipped his head at the path the company had smashed through the trees.

I blushed. “Ah. Glad my incompetence was so obvious. Good to have company out here.”

“That’s a bit harsh.” Bear raised an eyebrow, urging Ursa a little nearer to Cotton and me. “Look, my first time on the hunt, I was quite small, and I fell behind, too. I rode around for an hour before I just went home,” he said. “Later I pretended I’d been with them the whole time, but I don’t think anyone believed me.”

I laughed out loud despite myself. “Really?”

Bear’s eyes lit, and a grin caught the corner of his mouth. “There she is,” he said quietly.

My heart stilled at the look on his face.